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Study says rail line would be a boost

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



A study released on the economic impact that would be brought about by a proposed commuter rail line that would link Springfield to Hartford and New Haven, Conn., predicts the expansion would create nearly 800 jobs, boost property tax revenues for cities and towns and pump $152 million beyond government dollars invested into the two state's economy.

The report was released by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC) and used economic planning models to make the predictions. According to the introduction of the report, conservative calculations were used to producing the estimates and the impact could be far greater.

The proposed line would create an additional rail link between the cities in what is known as the expanded Knowledge Corridor an area that includes Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden Counties in western Massachusetts and Hartford, Tolland and new Haven Counties on Connecticut.

Peter Picknelly, chairman of Peter Pan bus lines, voiced his opposition earlier in the year to the proposed commuter service. At that time, Picknelly told Reminder Publications that he doubted there would be adequate ridership for a route already served by Amtrak and his and other bus companies and that state-sponsored subsidies could negatively affect his and other private carriers.

Picknelly based his remarks on this company's experience in Worcester where the company's once thriving commuter bus service had to be discontinued due to expanded state-subsidized commuter rail service to Boston.

Tim Doherty, senior transit planner for the PVPC, told Reminder Publications last week the final planning for the commuter line had not been done and he thought some of these issues would be addressed in further discussions.

He said there have already been negotiations between the state of Connecticut and the management of Amtrak over the combination of the Amtrak schedule in the area and the commuter schedule so the two would complement one another.

He noted that Amtrak does not provide commuter service, but that its Northeast Corridor operations feed into to its national system.

Doherty doesn't believe the commuter rail line would put Peter Pan out of business. He believes the rail line "will not harm, but enhance existing services."

He said that Peter Pan has been part of a steering committee on the project.

The Union Station project, although not included in the economic predictions, will also benefit from the commuter line.

"There's a great opportunity for Union Station, Doherty said. "It [the rail line] would make that project much more viable."

Doherty added the rail line would help decrease the number of cars using Interstate 91. He said there has been a study done that shows by 2020, I-91 would be as congested as Interstate 95.

"We can preempt that kind of situation by switching [transportation] patterns," he said.